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Year Four

 

Fourth-year general surgery residents at IU School of Medicine rotate at all five of the school’s clinical partner facilities in downtown Indianapolis as well as IU Health North.

Learning Objectives

Fourth-year residents gain an increased level of responsibility through consultation opportunities as the most senior-level resident on trauma, pediatric surgery and apprentice rotations, including colon recta, hepatobiliary, surgical oncology and minimally invasive surgery. In addition, fourth-year residents experience an increase in their leadership responsibilities on assigned services as a senior-level resident.

PGY4 residents begin to take part in the aforementioned apprentice rotations, which are two consecutive blocks of rotation where a PGY4 or PGY5 resident is assigned to one or two faculty members for the duration of the rotation. The goal of this apprentice model is to increase autonomy given by the faculty member and increase technical ability by the resident in the operating room. Half of the academic year is set up in an apprentice model, and the remainder of the year follows the one-month rotation set up in areas of trauma surgery, general surgery, endocrine and pediatric surgery.

Electives

PGY4 surgery residents are allowed an elective month for future career exploration. The international general surgery elective in Eldoret, Kenya (Moi University) is an elective option during this year as long as the PGY4 resident is in good standing as defined by the Department of Surgery.

Call Schedule

All PGY4 surgery residents participate in a month-long block of night float. PGY4 residents, on average, take call every fourth night at Riley Children’s Hospital and alternating weekend call at IU Health Methodist, Eskenazi Health, Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center and IU Health University Hospital. Rotations away from the downtown campus are incorporated into either the Eskenazi Health or IU Health Methodist call pool as determined by the administrative chief residents.

Rotations

  • IU Health University HPB Apprentice Rotation (two months)
  • Riley Hospital for Children Hospital (Pediatric Surgery)
  • Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital Team 3 (Trauma Surgery)
  • IU Health Methodist Hospital (Trauma Surgery)
  • Night Float (Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital or IU Health Methodist Hospital)
  • Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital Team 4 (Vascular/Thoracic Surgery)
  • IU Health Methodist Hospital Green B (General Surgery)
  • IU Health Methodist Hospital (Trauma Surgery)
  • IU Health University Hospital Team D (General/Endocrine Surgery)
  • Elective

Elective Options

  • IU Health Ball Memorial in Muncie, Indiana – general surgery (housing provided)
  • Goshen Hospital in Goshen, Indiana – general surgery (housing provided)
  • Harrison County Hospital in Corydon, Indiana – rural general surgery (housing provided)
  • Plastic Surgery (Indianapolis campus)
  • Vascular Surgery (Indianapolis campus)
  • Colorectal Surgery (St. Francis – Mooresville, Indiana; PGY 4 only)
  • Cardiothoracic Surgery (Indianapolis campus)
  • IU Kenya/Eldoret (PGY 4 only)